UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 04-7062

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
LEONARD COTTON,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Baltimore.
Catherine C. Blake, District Judge.
(CR-97-365; CA-03-1196-CCB)

Submitted:

April 28, 2005

Decided:

May 3, 2005

Before WILLIAMS, KING, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Leonard Cotton, Appellant Pro Se. Christine Manuelian, OFFICE OF

THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

See Local Rule 36(c).

PER CURIAM:
Leonard Cotton seeks to appeal from the district courts
order dismissing his motion filed under 28 U.S.C. 2255 (2000).
The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge
issues a certificate of appealability.
(2000).

28 U.S.C. 2253(c)(1)

A certificate of appealability will not issue absent a

substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.

U.S.C. 2253(c)(2) (2000).

28

A prisoner satisfies this standard by

demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find that the district

courts assessment of his constitutional claims is debatable and
that any dispositive procedural rulings by the district court are
also debatable or wrong.

See Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322,

336 (2003); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); Rose v.
Lee, 252 F.3d 676, 683 (4th Cir. 2001).

We have independently

reviewed the record and conclude that Cotton has not made the
requisite

showing.

Accordingly,

we

appealability and dismiss the appeal.

deny

certificate

of

We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

presented in the materials before the court and argument would not
aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED